Flower-de-luce: Giotto's Tower
Flower-de-luce: Giotto's Tower - meaning Summary
Quiet Virtue, Visible Absence
The poem contrasts quiet virtue with visible sanctity, arguing many devoted lives lack outward recognition. Longfellow highlights hidden acts of service, described as errands of the Paraclete, that receive no public reverence. He uses Giotto's tower—a finely wrought, flowerlike monument without its spire—as a central image: admired yet incomplete. The poem suggests moral worth persists despite absent honors and that beauty can remain unfulfilled without recognized culmination.
Read Complete AnalysesHow many lives, made beautiful and sweet By self-devotion and by self-restraint, Whose pleasure is to run without complaint On unknown errands of the Paraclete, Wanting the reverence of unshodden feet, Fail of the nimbus which the artists paint Around the shining forehead of the saint, And are in their completeness incomplete! In the old Tuscan town stands Giotto's tower, The lily of Florence blossoming in stone,-- A vision, a delight, and a desire,-- The builder's perfect and centennial flower, That in the night of ages bloomed alone, But wanting still the glory of the spire.
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